Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inline system such that a workpiece is transferred between a plurality of apparatuses and the workpiece is processed in each apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
A plurality of devices such as ICs and LSIs are formed on the front side of a wafer. The back side of the wafer is ground by a grinding apparatus to reduce the thickness of the wafer to a predetermined thickness. Thereafter, the wafer is divided into the individual devices by a dicing apparatus. These devices thus obtained are used in various electronic equipment such as mobile phones and personal computers. To continuously perform the back grinding of the wafer and the dividing of the wafer into the devices, the present applicant has proposed an inline system configured by connecting the grinding apparatus and the dicing apparatus in an inline fashion to thereby perform the grinding, transferring, and dicing in series (see Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 10-284449, for example).